Merry Christmas

It stirs my soul to peek in and watch children participating in the ritual of advent in their classrooms with you. We do the same with our children at home. I'd like to share an excerpt from a devotional for Christmas Eve.

"On this Christmas Eve, the day that marks the end of the Advent season, we light the Christ candle, the candle that all the other Advent candles have foreshadowed and pointed toward. The Christ candle signifies that the fullness of God's light has come into our world. It reminds us that God has not forgotten his promises to us. Even though we wait in the "darkness," even though the darkness may feel overwhelming at time, God's light shines in the darkness. "The darkness has not overcome it". The darkness will not overcome God's light. The Christ candle offers a reminder of this hope. We light the Christ candle on Christmas Eve when the amount of daylight we receive is at its lowest point in the year. In the midst of darkness that almost seems to overwhelm, God's light still shines.

As you extinguish the Christ candle and go to bed (please extinguish all candles before going to bed), take time to remember that just as your house will suddenly be at its darkest, God's light will continue to shine. Thank God that you will wake to house full of light in the morning. Thank God that even when the world seemed to be at its darkest, when Jesus' life was extinguished, there was still hope. God's light would shine once again in Jesus' resurrection, and God's light will shine again when Jesus returns. Even if the world feels at its darkest for you right now, God's light will shine. You can rest in God just as you rest in your bed at night. You can do so with the assurance that Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

It's a new year! PBIS 

As we've been trained, the new year is an excellent time to welcome students back to school and reteach our behavioral norms throughout the first week. I am learning that the effectiveness of PBIS in our school community relies on the commitment of ALL of us to keep on keeping on. When PBIS falls off the rails, it's because team members struggle to remain committed to important components. I say that fully aware of the growth areas for myself as a PBIS team member. As you build your schedule for our return on January 3, please make space for the PBIS expectations and lessons. At our next staff meeting, I'm eager to share some stories of success in our students fully because of the successful implementation of our SER program! No need to "sign up" for lessons but page 10 and beyond offer a refresher for all of us with our lesson plans. Our SLT has put a LOT of time into creating a wonderful mini-library of PBIS books for you to access and utilize in teaching/reviewing these expectations. I encourage you to consider using these as a tool for your implementation/reteaching this first week back or anytime! 

Here is a suggested timeline:

Rose Park Teaching Schedule for PBIS lesson plans--- Winter 2022

Monday 1/3:  Classroom/indoor recess

Tuesday 1/4: Playground/Woods

Wednesday 1/5: Chapel in the Well

Thursday 1/6:  Bathrooms

Friday 1/7: Hallways

Monday 1/10: Community/Field Trips/Guests to classroom

Tuesday 1/11: Lunch Line

Wednesday 1/12: Media Center

Staff Meeting

Wednesday, January 5 is our next staff meeting. We'll talk through PBIS reflections, celebrations, growth areas and next steps. This meeting is for K-5 core and encore teachers please. 

Collaboration Days

Ranch Update

Leanne Halma has been working diligently on moving our ranch forward and there is quite a bit of improvements planned for our outdoor play/learning space. Here is a video update that was sent to our community requested the final phase of our financial obligation so we can move to the construction phase of our project! The goats and chickens are coming, friends!